CANNES – The explosive growth of retail media is creating new opportunities for brands to harness first-party data, but that growth depends on trust, privacy, and evolving the consumer experience, says Shawn McGahee, head of retail media at Google.
Speaking with Beet.TV contributor David Kaplan at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, McGahee called the rise of commerce media a game-changing moment for the industry.
“Google views the rise of commerce media as an awesome opportunity for the expansion of first-party data,” McGahee said. “Retailers and commerce networks have very strong deep understanding of their customers and we are seeing that the proliferation and the opportunity of that first-party data is a huge opportunity. We see that as something that’s here to stay.”
Respect people’s privacy
As brands and retailers lean into that opportunity, McGahee emphasized that privacy cannot be treated as an afterthought.
“We think as commerce media networks grow that privacy is not only a buzzword, but it’s like essential for the business,” he explained. “If you break the customer’s trust whose first-party data that you’re activating in this space, then you won’t have a retail media business.”
To protect that trust, McGahee outlined Google’s focus on working with trusted partners, using privacy-safe environments, and enhancing how first-party data informs advertising in real time.
“We think about the move in trusted execution environments and how do we have more collaboration when it comes to the uses of first-party data in a privacy-safe way,” McGahee said. “Another area that we think is a big opportunity is not just the first-party data for measurement, but for bidding and optimization so that you can use real-time signals to make better choices and to drive further success in the space.”
Shoppable video on YouTube
Turning to video-sharing platform YouTube, McGahee described how Google is bringing commerce deeper into the platform with new features designed to support shopping across the full consumer journey.
“We’re seeing shoppers are taking various journeys to make a purchase, but there’s four core opportunities that we see,” he said. “It’s when they’re searching, it’s when they’re streaming, it’s when they’re scrolling, and then when they’re actually making that purchase.”
Earlier this year, Google expanded its DV360 platform to include commerce audiences for YouTube, with Costco among the first partners.
“That beta enables not only reaching third-party inventory, but also reaching YouTube in that space,” McGahee explained.
Google is also making YouTube Shorts and other video experiences more shoppable by integrating retailer product feeds.
“Across our Demand Gen product, which reaches scrollers on YouTube Shorts, reaches scrollers who are looking for their next YouTube video, and also reaches CTV devices, we’re making that more shoppable so that you can go from inspiration to action,” McGahee said.
Retail media evolves and matures
Reflecting on conversations at Cannes Lions, McGahee expressed optimism that retail media is evolving beyond its technical foundations.
“I feel in the retail media space we’ve been talking about tech, data pipes, measurement, and tags for the majority of the conversation over the last four years,” he said. “I’ve been really inspired to hear conversations now in this space around creative, around influence, around experiential opportunities for retail media, and I’m really excited about that.”
McGahee believes the industry is at an inflection point where experience will play a larger role alongside data and targeting.
“We’ve made a lot of progress on the data side of the journey and I could see us start to move more into the experience side of the journey,” he said. “I think that’s a great opportunity.”
You’re watching Beet.TV coverage from Cannes Lion 2025. For more videos from this series, please visit this page.
